After a long process of listening to voiceover talent, I came to the conclusion that other folks did not, in fact, have a mainline into my head in terms of knowing how everything in my book should sound. Long story short, I decided to read my work myself. I did not, however, feel crazy enough to record it. For that, I went to MixOne Studios in Boston.

Step Two. I prepped my read

This can be a tough process for professional narrators, but I got off a little easier here since I was the author. The book was written while I read it aloud and every character has a particular voice from the get-go. In other words, a lot of the work that professional audiobook narrators do—such as reading the text and trying to create nuance and character—I’d already done in my head, so all I needed was go into the studio and record.

Step Three. I recorded the book

Here’s how that part worked. I went to a professional studio in downtown Boston, put my headset, and spent hours upon hours recording my voice. I’m what’s called a clean narrator, which means I don’t make too many mistakes. In the end, I recorded about 1-1/2 hours for every 1 hour that we kept. Here’s a pic of me in studio:

Step Four: Stuff gets fixed

But although I’m pretty clean, I still do make mistakes. That’s why I had to go back into the studio for what are called ‘pick-ups,’ where I re-record parts of the book where I missed a word or my stomach grumbled or whatever! Here’s a picture of some of the pick-ups for ANGELBOUND:

Step Five: Submiting to Audiofile Magazine

I sent them a review copy about three months ago, which I was told was pretty standard turnaround time. if you have an audiobook, then the instructions on how to submit are here. And then came the review which I just received today! Click here or on the image to read the whole thing.

So that’s it! Now, I’m back in the studio to record ACCA and a bunch of other audiobooks for 2017. You can see the full list here…I hope you get a chance to enjoy them all!

Christina Bauer thinks that fantasy books are like bacon: they just make life better. All of which is why she writes romance novels that feature demons, witches, dragons, and other random stuff that she brainstorms while riding the Boston T. Christina lives in Newton, MA along with her husband, son, and semi-insane golden retriever, Ruby.